Portable telegraph-key.



1 No. 689,426. Patented Dec. 24, l90l.

C. SHIRLEY.

PORTABLE TELEGRAPH KEY.

(Application filed July 11, 1901.]

(No llodeL) g 6 I 3 Q 2 o 'l I Hi].

WITNESSES: INVENTOR BY W EYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES SHIRLEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN F. SKIRROVV, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

PORTABLE TELEGRAPH-KEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 689,426, dated December 24, 1901- .Application filed July 11, 1901. Serial No. 67,920i. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SHIRLEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Telegraph-Keys, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3 a perspective view of the detachable anchoring-base.

The object of this invention is to provide a readily-portable telegraph-key which may be placed in any position on a table and be operated without being attached to the table, all attaching devices being dispensed with.

Referring to the various parts by numerals, 1 designates the upright casing which incloses the key mechanism; 2, the sleeve projecting forward from the upper end of said casing and in which is mounted a rock-shaft, to the outer end of which is attached the operatinghandle 3. On the lower edge of the casing 1 is formed a rearward-extending horizontal foot 4.

To support the casing 1 in operative position without the necessity of attaching it to a table or other support, a heavy metallic anshoring-base 5 is provided, and to the upper side of this base, at about the middle thereof, is secured a transverse rigid keeper 6, which is just large enough to permit the foot 4 of the casing to pass through, said foot fitting snugly therein. To the top of this keeper is rigidly secured an upward-extending bail 7, which forms a handle by means of which the heavy base and the attached case may be readilylifted. The undersurfaceoftheheavy anchoring-base is covered with a yielding frictional material 8, such as rubber, to prevent the base sliding on its support. The base-piece is sufliciently heavy to permit the operator to rapidly manipulate the handle of the key without causing the key audits heavy base-piece to be shifted on its support. The heavy base-piece is detachable from the keycase for convenience in packing the device for transportation and to prevent the weight of the base-piece from straining the light keycase while the device is being transported.

The advantages of providing a telegraphkey which may be placed in any desired position on an operators table and be securely held in the desired position without the neoessity of means for attaching it to the table will be readily appreciated.

This form of detachable base-pieceis particularly desirable for use in connection with the form of key shown in the drawings,as said key is designed to be shifted abouton the operators table and to be rotated thereon to secure various changes in the position of the handle and to adapt it for the use of both right and left hand operators, as is fully described in Patent No. 685,301, dated October 29, 1901, relating to said key.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a portable telegraph-key, the combination of a casing carrying the key mechanism and formed with a foot at one of its edges, a heavy independent anchoring-base, a keeper secured to said base and adapted to receive the foot of the key-case.

2. In a portable telegraph-key, the combination of an upright casing carrying the key mechanism and formed with a horizontal foot at its lower edge, a heavy independent anchoring-base, a keeper secured to the upper surface of said base and adapted to receive the foot of the key-case, and yieldable frictional material secured to thebottom of the detachable anchoring-base.

3. In a detachable anchoring-base for portable telegraph-keys, the combination of a heavy base provided on its under surface with yieldable frictional material and on its upper surface with a rigid keeper, and a handle or rigid bail secured, to said base, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a portable telegraph-key, the combination of a casing adapted to carry the key mechanism, an anchoring-base, and means for slidably connecting the said base to the key-case.

5. In a portable te1egraph-key, the combithe frame whereby the key may be knocked nation of a frame adapted to carry the key down for transportation. mechanism, an anchoring-base,yieldable fric- In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my tionai material secured to said base and on signature, in the presence of two witnesses, 5 which the base rests, and means for detachthis 10th day of July, 1901. ably securing the frame to the base. v

6. In a portable telegraph-key, the combi- CHARLES SHIRLEY nation of a frame adapted to carry the key mechanism, a heavy anchoring-base, and xo.means for detachably securing the base to Witnesses:

J. A. MOC ARY, M. G. MAcDoUGALL. 

